Folding on School Computers

[catacon]

Hey,

I've been thinking about asking our technology teacher if I could put F@H on our school computers. Before I ask him, though, I want to know what to say so I could actually make a good argument. What's the best way to explain the program without getting too technical? How can I assure him that there aren't any security risks? They are pretty picky about that stuff, so he might be skeptical. Also, I beleive the computers are turned off at night and some are off during the day, is there a way I could get him to leave them on or at least on most of the time?

We have like 50-75 Pentium 4's, so it would probably be a good asset to the team.

Thanks!

[enhanced08]

There are a few ways you could go about doing this. This is how I did it. First I talked to one of the Science teachers and explained the idea to her. Then I took the idea to the head of the Science dept and explained it to her. Once had the Science dept backing me, I explained the idea to the school Principal. Then after I had all those people on my side about it I went to the IT guy and explained it ot him. Turns out he used to run Seti so he thought it was a great idea!

To help convince everyone I made a power point (linked below) and also printed off a good many pages from stanford site (folding.stanford.edu) for them all to read. I'm not sure how you might get them to let the systems run 24/7. You might mention that its better for the systems to allow them to run, could say it is easier to do general matinence on them (ie. virus scans, spyware scans, etc) due to the fact it can be set as a scheduled task set to run at midnight when no one is on them.

Here is a link to the ppt I made, you can use it however you wish, change the content, anything. Good luck! www.fah-database.com/files/folding@home.ppt

[clroberts]

And with most of the processing power not being utilized but other things (I.E. Most people are just typing papers or browsing the web) , I don't think that people would notice any slowdowns with that running in the background.

[enhanced08]

Nah, you wont notice the slow down on any system (well, most in most cases) due to the way the folding program is designed. Even while playing games i cant tell a difference with or without folding running.

[TallTravel]

That seems like a huge number of potential folding machines spread across the USA, doing nothing most of the night, which could be used to great benefit by FAH.

[catacon]

I don't really know any of the science teachers and our principal is only temporary and not very technological, so that might not work. I am on the tech leaders at school, so that might help. Our technology teacher is pretty cool, so he would probably at least hear me out.

He might know how do this, but is there a way to do a network install? Or do you have to install it on each machine seperately?

Thanks!

[enhanced08]

A network install.... hmmm... yes and no, from what I can tell. Yes there are ways to do it but no I have no idea how to do them. There are a few programs that claim to work, but they all require the network is a domain network (you school should be on a domain, mine was) and I was unable to get them to work. I used the One-Click Install to install folding at my school.

The network installers and "One-click" can be found here: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=231247

[enhanced08]

Getting anywhere with this, catacon?

[Turbo91Bird]

I did this when I worked for my college IT dept. Did all the labs and was a folding machine! Than my boss decided it was a bad idea for some dumb reason (never explained why) and got rid of all of them. Soon after I left that job...

[faulkner132]

I can see several reasons why people in charge of the equipment would perceive F@H as bad:

1. Perceived security risk. Although it is not, I can certainly see how someone at a glance would think this.
2. Consumes system resources. Believe it or not, many IT people do not understand the concept of processes vs. CPU priority. Additionally, F@H consumes memory which is not prioritized.
3. CPU runs hotter. Inevitably running your CPU hotter will lead to a shorter lifespan, however I personally think it is negligible.

I'm not dismissing the idea of F@H in clusters... in fact I love it, but consider the above because ultimately someone is responsible for what they allow to go on the machines.

[catacon]

We're on break right now, but hopefully when I get back I will be able to talk to our tech teacher. I'm doubtful that he'll let me try it but oh well. I'm going to get really busy a week after we start school, though so I don't think I will have much time. We'll see, though.

[skipper]

For what it's worth......
Regarding the perception negative to lifespan of processor by running F@H. I have had at least one box running F@H it's entire life (several years) 24/7. I, too, think the impact to CPU life is likely to be negligible. Unless of course you are overclocking.....that may be a different story. And besides, if one is really concerned about the impact to life of CPU, try to think in terms of life of the CPU's technology. It will likely be outdated long before it's death.

My 2¢.

[Panama Red]

Seems to me you have to change the focus if you're going to be successful at convincing others to use their pc's for folding. It's not about what's in it for them, or how much it will reduce the life of their pc, or how much it will affect their electric bill. It's about the research data being produced that may lead to a medical breakthrough. My grandmother had Alzheimers and if I can contribute in some small way to prevent others - maybe even me or my kids - from suffering from the same disease, it'll be worth every dime I spend. Others need to understand the purpose of Folding. It's not about the points - it's about the project.

[fleeingpepper]

My computer apps teacher respects my computer skills and I have her for another class next semester, I might just think about talking to her about F@H. I doubt it though, at my freaking school, like the 4th or 5th largest in the state and nationally known, yea right, they'll let me install something on their computers. Fat chance

[enhanced08]

Its worth a shot, I didnt think I would be allowed either but as it turnsout our IT guy used to run Seti back in the day but lost intrest in it. He loved the idea of folding!